# Don't get a buzz on in Fairfax County! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 8, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317 "2003-01-08T16:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FireWitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@FireWitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FireWitch)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/21 "2003-01-09T00:33:11Z")
More moral policing. Sad really. ---
**Author:** ![FireWitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@FireWitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FireWitch)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/22 "2003-01-09T00:52:24Z")
More moral policing. Sad really. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/23 "2003-01-09T01:11:05Z")
I lived in Virginia for 9 months. It is a fascist state. I will never step foot inside it again. Virginia is not for lovers, it’s for fat, rich, racist old (and now apparently sober) white men and their gun-totin, badge-flashin’ lackey’s. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/24 "2003-01-09T10:49:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by presidebt \* > \*\*I lived in Virginia for 9 months. It is a fascist state. I will never step foot inside it again. Virginia is not for lovers, it’s for fat, rich, racist old (and now apparently sober) white men and their gun-totin, badge-flashin’ lackey’s. \*\* Ah, but what part of the state? It’s hardly uniform, to say the least. Northern VA and the rest of the state sometimes seem to be from different planets. [nitpick & pet peeve] It’s either “I will never step inside it again” or “I will never _set_ foot inside it again.” [/nitpick & pet peeve] ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/25 "2003-01-09T12:27:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*We lived in Reston when we first moved out here 6 years ago. Then we moved to City of Fairfax, and now we’re in Centreville. > > All of which is Fairfax County. > > Fortunately for us, we don’t go to bars. > > I feel so embarassed just for living here, after reading that :X \*\* Hey, I live in Fairfax County! Uh…It’s not so bad…I also went to Chantilly HS…which is a little sad-I’ve lived in this area for 15 years… ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/26 "2003-01-09T12:40:33Z")
This looks like a publicity stunt to make all the blue-hairs happy. “See, we DO care about safety! We’re not even waiting for them to get in their cars! We’re dragging them out of the bar beforehand!” I can see that the ABC may not have had anything better to do, but the police force? Gee, I hope that makes anyone who had a crime committed against them that night feel a LOT better. Ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/27 "2003-01-09T13:38:01Z")
Good lord. I’ve hung out with some FCPD officers, and…well, the word “hypocrites” comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/28 "2003-01-09T13:58:12Z")
Anything to bring America into compliance with Islamic standards will go over well in my local press. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/29 "2003-01-09T14:49:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by presidebt \* > \*\*I lived in Virginia for 9 months. It is a fascist state. I will never step foot inside it again. Virginia is not for lovers, it’s for fat, rich, racist old (and now apparently sober) white men and their gun-totin, badge-flashin’ lackey’s. \*\* I haven’t run into any of that. But then, I live in NoVa. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/30 "2003-01-09T14:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by presidebt \* > \*\*I lived in Virginia for 9 months. It is a fascist state. I will never step foot inside it again. Virginia is not for lovers, it’s for fat, rich, racist old (and now apparently sober) white men and their gun-totin, badge-flashin’ lackey’s. \*\* Where in Va did you live? I have not had this experience and I’ve lived here for 15+ years. I’m sure there are fat, rich, racist old white men, who live here, but from my experience No.Va is a pretty tolerant place. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/31 "2003-01-09T19:00:50Z")
Believe it or not, according to the [FCPD itself](http://www.ncadd.com/techcenter/detecting/users/pasfairfax.html) it “has fewer police officers per 1,000 residents than any other suburban area.” Nevertheless, according to [this .pdf](http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/ps/police/pdf/annualreport_2002.pdf), the FCPD has 1,237 sworn officers, enough to have an officer covering every single square mile of the county, three 8-hour shifts a day. Fewer than [twenty people a year](http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/ps/police/pdf/Page%2098.pdf) out of a population of nearly a million die in “alcohol related” automobile fatalities each year in Fairfax. Most states define the term as Minnesota does in [this .pdf document](http://www.dps.state.mn.us/ots/crashdata/cf01alcohol.pdf): > [@](#): > > A crash is classified as “alcohol-related” if any driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist is shown by a chemical test to be positive for alcohol. Thus, alcohol at the .01-or-higher level or higher makes the crash alcohol-related. You _could_ argue that the FCPD is doing a fine job in keeping “alcohol related” traffic fatalities to a minimum, since it is now more dangerous to be convicted of a DWI in Fairfax than it is to drive drunk.\* But if you ask me, I’d guess that Fairfax is looking for exposure, and more importantly, revenue. Especially revenue. - According to [this article](http://metroped.org/SafeCross/WashCityPaper_CO.htm), 19 pedestrians were killed in both 2000 and 2001 in Fairfax. “Alcohol related” deaths in those years were 18 and 13, respectively. However, if any of those pedestrians had a single beer before crossing the street and getting killed, they would actually count in both columns and skew the number of deaths in favor of the drinking and driving fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317/32 "2003-01-14T01:40:18Z")
I remember those “exile” billboards in Virginia for a few years: > [@](#): > > ILLEGAL GUN? 5 YEARS IN PRISON. VIRGINIA EXILE. Didn’t see any this year. Looks like the new governor ordered them removed: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE\_ID=26914](http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26914) I always wanted to take a photo of the one where traffic leaves DC, westbound, I think on route 66. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-buzz-on-in-fairfax-county/147317.md?page=1)